The present invention generally relates to hanging protocol configuration in a picture archiving and communication system. In particular, certain embodiments of the present invention relate to machine learning based hanging protocol configuration in a picture archiving and communication system.
Healthcare environments, such as hospitals or clinics, include clinical information systems, such as hospital information systems (“HIS”) and radiology information systems (“RIS”), and storage systems, such as picture archiving and communication systems (“PACS”). Information stored may include patient medical histories, imaging data, test results, diagnosis information, management information, and/or scheduling information, for example. The information may be centrally stored or divided at a plurality of locations. Healthcare practitioners may desire to access patient information or other information at various points in a healthcare workflow. For example, during surgery, medical personnel may access patient information, such as images of a patient's anatomy, that are stored in a medical information system. Alternatively, medical personnel may enter new information, such as history, diagnostic, or treatment information, into a medical information system during an ongoing medical procedure.
A reading, such as a radiology or cardiology procedure reading, is a process of a healthcare practitioner, such as a radiologist or a cardiologist, viewing digital images of a patient. The practitioner performs a diagnosis based on a content of the diagnostic images and reports on results electronically (e.g., using dictation or otherwise) or on paper. The practitioner, such as a radiologist or cardiologist, typically uses other tools to perform diagnosis. Some examples of other tools are prior and related prior (historical) exams and their results, laboratory exams (such as blood work), allergies, pathology results, medication, alerts, document images, and other tools.
Picture archiving and communication systems (“PACS”) connect to medical diagnostic imaging devices and employ an acquisition gateway (between the acquisition device and the PACS), storage and archiving units, display workstations, databases, and sophisticated data processors. These components are integrated together by a communication network and data management system. A PACS has, in general, the overall goals of streamlining health-care operations, facilitating distributed remote examination and diagnosis, and improving patient care.
A typical application of a PACS system is to provide one or more medical images for examination by a medical professional. For example, a PACS system can provide a series of x-ray images to a display workstation where the images are displayed for a radiologist to perform a diagnostic examination. Based on the presentation of these images, the radiologist can provide a diagnosis. For example, the radiologist can diagnose a tumor or lesion in x-ray images of a patient's lungs.
Current PACS systems use general techniques known as “hanging protocols” to format display or layout of images. Hanging protocols allow a user to display images based on modality, anatomy, and procedure. Hanging protocols present a perspective or view to a user, such as a radiologist. Images may be grouped according to characteristics such as DICOM series or series number.
Additionally, PACS systems attempt to prepare images for viewing by users by applying a series of processing steps or functions included in a hanging protocol referred to as a Default Display Protocol (“DDP”). A DDP is a default workflow that applies a series of image processing functions to image data to prepare the image data for presentation to a user on a particular monitor configuration. DDPs typically include processing steps or functions that are applied before any diagnostic examination of the images. A DDP may be based on a type of imaging modality used to obtain the image data, for example. In general, a DDP attempts to present image data in a manner most useful to many users.
Currently, a hanging or display protocol in PACS applications uses individual data elements of an image's DICOM header and HL-7 order information to classify a study type and determine how the study should be displayed.